Part 4

The tear down childhood's cheek that flows, Is like the dewdrop on the rose.

--_Scott._

256

THE CHILD AND THE "RISING DAY"

The following is a true narrative of an experience in life:

It was nearing three o'clock of last Easter afternoon, when a woman, clad in deepest mourning, entered the gates of the beautiful "sleeping place" on Walnut Hill. Her attitude, as she sank upon a carefully tended mound, denoted deep dejection. She had not yet learned that the "tree of death is fruited with the love of God," neither the joy of the "afterward," but knew only the grope of a stricken soul.

In the distance, sat a child upon a grave, alone. Coming nearer, she recognized him as one who had never known a mother, and whose father had lately been taken, leaving him without kindred. The love between that father and child had been passing sweet.

The bereaved lady knew this, and that he had been thrown homeless upon the world. Yet, absorbed in her own grief, had given him little thought. Drawing near, she observed closely the rare beauty of the boy, scarcely five years of age, genius and nobility stamped on his brow, and exquisite tenderness on the mobile lips.

He looked up eagerly, asking fearlessly, "Is your name Mary? Are you the woman who talked with the angel when the stone was rolled away."

"Oh, no, dear," she replied. "Whom are you looking for?"

"For Jesus!" said the boy reverently.

"But he is not here. He is risen."

"Yes, I know, that's it, but I've been waiting here all day for Him to come and raise my papa up. He's late, and I thought maybe He sent you to tell me to wait a little, just as He sent Mary to tell His disciples, you know," said the boy, wistfully.

"Yes, dear, but"--hesitating to shatter the boy's beautiful faith.

"I am tired" (pathetically), "but it is never too late for Jesus," he added bravely, while a tear rolled down the velvet cheek. "He is sure to come, 'cause it is the Rising Day" (exultingly). "Don't you 'member?"

The woman stooped to kiss the child, and began to sob violently, dropping on the grave beside him.

"What makes you cry, lady? Is your papa here to be raised up?"

"No, no, darling, but my sweet daughter is."

"Don't cry, then," stroking the lady's hand. "Jesus never goes by Rising Day. He'll surely come and give you your little girl and me my papa! He'll come to-night. I saw the two men who came from [256:A]Emmaus go by early this morning, and they will be walking back soon in the evening, and Jesus will meet them and turn and walk with them, and they will all be talking gently about the dying and the rising, and the men will not know Him, but I shall, and He will stop here when I call, and raise my papa up."

"How will you know Him, dear boy?"

"By His smile and the Transfiguration picture that papa showed me in his study. But I'll know Him bestest in here," putting his hand on his breast, "by the love!" raising his lustrous eyes to hers.

"Will you know your papa? Are you sure?"

"My papa!" with wondering ecstatic voice. "My own papa! I shall know him by the love, and you your little girl. They will not look the same, 'cause Jesus didn't, but they knew Him by their love!"

"Yes?"

"And we'll know them by our love!" lingering fondly on the repetition with lustrous, far-seeing gaze.

The woman clasped the child to her breast with a passionate embrace, while rising to meet a supreme hour. (The child must not--shall not be disappointed and his beautiful faith shattered).

"Phillip!" she said, "listen. The angel sent me to tell you that Jesus had gone into heaven, and to take you to your papa. Come!"

Without a moment's hesitation he took his messenger's (?) hand and passed out of the gates, looking not backward by a glance. Expectation held him silent, while the woman's face was illumined by a great light. Entering the door of a pleasant house, she passed on through the hall into the dining-room, saying to the maid: "Bring some food for this dear child; he has fasted all day."

A pitcher of milk and a plate of bread and honey were set beside a plate of cold, broiled fish.

"Now I know this is the house," the boy exclaimed exultingly, "for they had the fish, the bread and the honey! It's all here, just the same, and he'll come to-night!"

Turning swiftly to the hall, the woman almost flew along the corridor to meet her husband's steps. Drawing him to one side, she told with rapture of her encounter and the sweet expectancy below.

"Now, Harold, Heaven has sent us a child, who shall be the angel to roll away the stone from our grave. His wonderful vision must not be darkened, neither his faith destroyed. Rise, my husband, to the most glorious hour of your life. 'I shall know him by the love,' he said. Let us see that he does."

Returning for the child and extending her hand with a smile, he eagerly asked, "Will you wash and comb me to meet my papa? It isn't too late yet, is it?"

The voice was half a sob, but full of hope. The ineffable trust pierced her heart while reassuring him with swift, tender tones.

"Come, Phillip, we will go to him," she cried tremblingly.

As she opened the door upon a winning, noble-faced man with tears on his cheek, smiling with outstretched arms upon the boy, he hesitated a moment, took one step forward and then leaped into the open arms, threw his noble head back, and gazed with lustrous, questioning eyes.

"You don't look like my papa, quite."

"No?" (anxiously).

"'Cause you are changed. But I know you by the love, and you know me, don't you?"

"By the love, dear boy," with shining eyes, but marble lips.

The child nestled down upon the breast, his chest heaving, while the man stroked the soft curls, soothing him with every word known to love's alphabet, till finally, crooning a cradle song, the exhausted child fell asleep. He had found a father by the love. His faith was saved, and by it, she who had groped blindly among the tombs had found her Easter.

--_From the Christian Observer_, March 30, 1904. By Mrs. Helen Strong Thompson.

FOOTNOTES:

[256:A] _St. Luke, xxiv, 13._

257

Say "Yes" and "No" to a child and stick to it. This is the beginning of discipline.

258

The way to spoil a child is to give it all it wants and require nothing in return. The way to make a child grow up sensible and unselfish is to give it little, and require of it much. For it is not what others do for us that benefits us, but what we do for ourselves and others.

259

Some one truly said, the best way for a man to train up a child in the way it should go, is to travel that way sometimes himself.

260

_I Kings, i, 6_--"His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, 'Why hast thou done so?'"

A young man, as he was going to the place of execution, desired to whisper something into his mother's ear; but when she came, instead of whispering, he bit off her ear, telling her, that it was because she did not chastise him for his faults when a boy, he was brought to such an unhappy end.

261

Could it be believed that a child should be forced to learn the rudiments of a language which he is never to use, and neglect the writing a good hand, and casting accounts?

--_Locke._

262

Childhood shows the man, as morning shows the day.

--_Milton._

263

Children, a bond of union than which the human heart feels none more endearing.

264

What children hear at home soon flies abroad.

265

CHILDREN.

I never hear parents exclaim impatiently, "Children, you must not make so much noise," that I do not think how soon the time may come when, beside the vacant chair, those parents would give all the world, could they hear once more the ringing laughter which once so disturbed them.

--_A. E. Kittredge._

266

Children are certain cares, but uncertain comforts.

267

What is there in nature so dear to man as his own children?

--_Cicero._

268

The dutifulness of children is the foundation of all virtues.

--_Cicero._

269

His cares are eased with intervals of bliss: His little children, climbing for a kiss, Welcome their father's late return at night.

--_Dryden._

270

A BAD EXAMPLE.

Whatever parent gives his children good instruction, and sets them at the same time a bad example, may be considered as bringing them food in one hand, and poison in the other.

271

Children have neither past nor future; and what scarcely ever happens to us, they enjoy the present.

--_La Bruyere._

272

An honorable life is the best legacy a father can leave to his children.

273

Children should not be flattered, but they should be encouraged. They should not be so praised as to make them vain and proud, but they should be commended when they do well.

274

Children are excellent physiognomists, and soon discover their real friends.

275

_Dr. Guthrie_--He believed--to use his own words--that "where parents will never punish their children, those children will punish them."

_From Dr. Guthrie's Memoir._

276

Indulgence to children breeds ingratitude.

277

A man who gives his children habits of industry, provides for them better than by giving them a fortune.

_Whately._

278

Choose rather to leave your children well instructed than rich. For the hopes of the learned are better than the riches of the ignorant.

279

WOULD YOU HAVE ANSWERED SO?

You would not be in a Japanese house long without noticing their extreme politeness, and that this politeness was especially shown by children toward their parents. The one thing that Japanese children must learn is perfect obedience; a child would as soon think of refusing to do a thing altogether, when told, as to ask why he must do it.

A little * * * girl, the child of a missionary, was playing in the street with some Japanese children.

"Mary," called her father from the house, "come in."

As she paid no attention, the others thought she had not heard, and began to say to her: "Your august father is calling you," "Your honorable parent is beckoning to you," and so on.

"I don't care," said Mary.

The children stopped playing and looked at her in astonishment. Her father called her again. This time she answered crossly, "I don't want to come in. What for?"

At this the children picked up their playthings and hurried home, talking excitedly all the way. "Rude little foreigner!" "Bad little girl!" they said, and it was a long time before Mary saw anything of her friends again.

_Juniors in Japan._

280

_Children_--Living jewels, dropped unstained from Heaven.

--_Pollock._

281

Children know, Instinctive taught, the friend and foe.

282

Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.

283

Children are like the to-morrow of society.

--_Whately._

284

Children think not of what is past, nor what is to come, but enjoy the present time, which few of us do.

--_Bruyere._

285

_Children_--I love these little people; and it is not a slight thing when they, who are so fresh from God, love us.

--_Dickens._

286

Love of children is always the indication of a genial nature, a pure and unselfish heart.

287

MY CHILDREN.

What use to me the gold and silver hoard? What use to me the gems most rich and rare? Brighter by far--aye! bright beyond compare-- The joys my children to my heart afford!

288

Children need models rather than critics.

--_Joseph Joubert._

289

_Spurgeon said_: "With children we must mix gentleness with firmness; they must not always have their own way, but they must not always be thwarted. If we never have headaches through rebuking them, we shall have plenty of heartaches when they grow up. If you yield up your authority once, you will hardly ever get it again."

290

Parents deserve reproof when they refuse to benefit their children by proper discipline.

291

My dearest pastime is with children.

292

Children are poor men's riches.

293

Nothing has a better effect upon children than praise.

--_Sir P. Sidney._

294

_Their Little Needs_--It is often asserted that both men and women would be selfish beings but for children. They call out, and refine, and soften the best feelings of the parental heart. Their little needs are so many, and their simple ignorance so affecting, and their very caprices so winning, that love and attention flow out to them almost instinctively.

That must be a hardened nature which can be unmoved by the soft touch, the playful childishness, and the hundred little pranks of a baby.

--_Unknown._

295

You can not expect better manners from your children than you teach them. They imitate instinctively.

296

Children should be taught early to sympathize with the deformed, the crippled, and otherwise unfortunate beings: A little dwarfed girl in one of our great cities committed suicide a few years ago because she was so weary of being laughed at and ridiculed by her associates in the streets and at school.

An old street pedlar was set upon by school children and so annoyed and misused that he became insane.

297

MY CHILDREN STILL.

A young preacher recently called upon an eminent Divine, and in the course of conversation asked him how many children he had. "Four, sir," was the reply. At the supper-table, the visitor perceived two beautiful children seated by the side of the mother. Turning to his host, he said, "I thought you had four children, sir: Where are the other two?" Lifting his eyes, the holy man of God pointed upwards, while a sweet smile broke over his countenance. "They are in Heaven," he repeated slowly and calmly; "yet my children still: not dead, but gone before."

298

Dr. Samuel Johnson once said, "Above all, accustom your children constantly to tell the truth; without varying in any circumstance." A lady who heard him said, "Nay, this is too much, for a little variation in narrative must happen a thousand times a day, if one is not perpetually watching." "Well, madam," said the Doctor, "you ought to be perpetually watching."

299

He knows not what love is, that has no children.

300

Children are travelers newly arrived in a strange country; we should therefore make conscience not to mislead them.

301

IT'S ONLY ME.

A lady had two children--both girls. The elder was a fair child; the younger a beauty, and the mother's pet. Her whole love centered in it. The elder was neglected, while "Sweet" (the pet name of the younger) received every attention that affection could bestow. One day, after a severe illness, the mother was sitting in the parlor, when she heard a childish footstep on the stairs, and her thoughts were instantly with the favorite.

"Is that you, Sweet?" she enquired.

"No, mamma," was the sad, touching reply, "it isn't Sweet: it's only me."

The mother's heart smote her; and from that hour "only me" was restored to an equal place in her affections.

302

Children are usually what their mothers were, or are.

--_Landor._

303

Be careful to discountenance in children anything that looks like rage and furious anger.

--_Tillotson._

304

Children will grow up substantially what they are by nature--and only that.

--_Mrs. Stowe._

305

_St. Luke, xxiv, 29_--"Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent."

(Two of the disciples to our Lord on the way to Emmaus.)

306

DESCRIPTION OF THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST.

The following description is alleged to be derived from an ancient manuscript sent by Publius Lentellus, President of Judea, to the Senate of Rome:

"There lives at this time in Judea, a man of singular character, whose name is Jesus Christ. The barbarians esteem Him as their prophet; but His followers adore Him as the immediate offspring of the immortal God. He is endowed with such unparalleled virtue as to call back the dead from their graves and to heal every kind of disease with a word or a touch. His person is tall and elegantly shaped; His aspect, amiable and reverend; His hair flows in those beauteous shades which no united colors can match, falling in graceful curls below His ears, agreeably couching on His shoulders, and parting on the crown of His head; His dress, that of the sect of Nazarites; His forehead is smooth and large; His cheeks without blemish, and of roseate hue; His nose and mouth are formed with exquisite symmetry; His beard is thick and suitable to the hair of His head, reaching a little below His chin, and parting in the middle below; His eyes are clear, bright, and serene.

"He rebukes with mildness, and invokes with the most tender and persuasive language--His whole address, whether in word or deed, being elegantly grave, and strictly characteristic of so exalted a being. No man has seen Him laugh, but the whole world beholds Him weep frequently, and so persuasive are His tears that the whole multitude can not withhold their tears from joining in sympathy with Him. He is moderate, temperate, and wise; in short, whatever the phenomenon may turn out in the end, He seems at present to be a man of excellent beauty and Divine perfection, every way surpassing man."

307

LAST SUPPER.

To turn one's back on the Memorial Supper is to disregard the most tender, and loving, and melting of all our Saviour's commandments. It is not needful to know just how obedience will help us. It is enough to know that it was His dying command that we keep it till He come.

--_Henry M. Grout._

308

No man ought to profess the name of Christ who is not willing to do the deeds of Christ.

309

Our Saviour is represented everywhere in Scripture as the special patron of the poor and afflicted.

--_Atterbury._

310

IS NOT THIS THE CARPENTER?

_Mark, vi, 3._

Yes, yes, a Carpenter, same trade as mine. It warms my heart as I read that line. I can stand the hard work, I can stand the poor pay, For I'll see that Carpenter at no distant day.

--_From Thoughts for Every-day Living._

311

He that thinks he hath no need of Christ hath too high thoughts of himself. He that thinks Christ can not help him hath too low thoughts of Christ.

--_John Mason._

312

A Christian is the highest style of man.

--_Young._

313

He that is a good man, is three-quarters of his way towards the being a good Christian, wheresoever he lives, or whatsoever he is called.

--_South._

314

There is no fire without heat, No light without brightness, No voice without sound, No water without moisture, And there is no Christian Who is not Christlike.

--_Rev. L. W. Irwin._

315

As Henry Drummond, on board a government packet, was steaming away from that group of islands known as the New Hebrides, after having visited the missions there, he was asked by a fellow-passenger who had been visiting the islands for a very different purpose, what good the missionary had been to those people. "My dear young man," said Drummond, "only for the missionary, you and I, instead of being in this cabin, would probably by this time have been inside some of those savages, as you call them, who waved us such an affectionate farewell from their shores." Yes, Christianity is now recognized the world over, as foremost among the moral forces that are civilizing the dark corners of the earth. Even Matthew Arnold was forced to admit that there is no civilization without it. "Show me," he said, "ten square miles outside of Christianity where the life of man or woman is safe, and I'll throw over Christianity at once."

--_From the Missionary Outlook._

316

Christmas is truly merry only to those who think of others.

317

PLENTY OF ROOM.

A visiting bishop, in Washington, was arguing with a senator on the desirability of attending church. At last he put the question squarely: "What is your personal reason for not attending?"

The senator smiled in a no-offense-intended way, as he replied: "The fact is, one finds so many hypocrites there."

Returning the smile, the bishop said:

"Don't let that keep you away, senator; there's always room for one more."

--_Evening Post._

318

Some bring their clothes to church rather than themselves.

319

Bare communion with a good church can never alone make a good man.

--_Dr. South._

320

HOW THE CHURCH MUST GROW.

It has seemed sometimes in recent years as if the deaths were more than the births. This has brought home to the Church the absolute need of the revival of religion if Christianity is not to perish from the world which it has re-made. The Church is not an establishment in the world, but an encampment. She has no natural increase. She lives only by capture, by winning over from the world the citizens that make her number. One must arm another with the Christian panoply, if the Church is to continue.

--_The British Weekly._

321

HOW TO WARM UP THE CHURCH.

I was once preaching in Scotland, and when I got to the church it was so cold that I could see my breath three feet away, said Rev. D. L. Moody. I said to the "beadle," as they call him:

"Aren't you going to have any heat in this building?"

He said they had no stoves or any other provision for heat.

"Well, how do you expect people to get warm?"

"Oh!" he said, "we expect the pulpit to warm us up."

NOTE: _In Dr. Guthrie's Autobiography_, vol. I, page 125--Describing the first church he became pastor of, in Arbirlot, in 1830, he says: "As to stoves, they were never thought of--the pulpit had to keep the people warm."

322

LATE CHURCH-GOERS.

A minister, observing that some of his people made a practice of coming in very late, and after a considerable part of the sermon was over, determined that they should feel the force of public reproof. One day, therefore, as they entered the place of worship at their usual late hour, the minister, addressing his congregation, said: "But, my hearers, it is time for us now to conclude, for here are our friends just come to fetch us home."

We may easily conjecture what the parties felt at this curious but pointed address.

--_Anon._

323

BOTH KEPT AWAKE IN CHURCH.

A country minister in Scotland, who was much annoyed by two members of his congregation, Macpherson and Macintosh, sleeping during the sermon, hit upon a way to put an end to this state of matters. Calling on Macintosh, he said: "By the way, Mr. Macintosh, have you ever noticed Mr. Macpherson sleeping during the sermon?" "Many a time," replied Macintosh, virtuously. "Well, next Sunday you might sit beside Macpherson and try and keep him awake." "I'll do that sir," said Macintosh. Then the minister went to Macpherson and went through the same programme concerning Macintosh.

Next Sunday it was highly amusing to those in the secret to see Macintosh and Macpherson sitting next to each other, both perfectly wide awake.

324

When once thy foot enters the church, beware, God is more there than thou; for thou art there only by His permission. Then beware and make thyself all reverence and fear.

--_Herbert._

325